Purchasing New Programs

As educators we are constantly looking at new and "better" ways to educate our students.  Sometimes we overlook many details when we are in the middle of that process.  It is our responsibility to make good choices when we have so much at stake.
Here is a guideline we put together for consideration when you want to purchase new programs for your school.

Guidelines For Investing In New Software for Bowling Green City Schools

1.     What is the instructional value?

2.     Does it address Core Content or Program of Studies?

3.     Is it teacher friendly?

4.     Is it student friendly?

5.     Will it compliment another program or is it a totally new type of software?

6.     What are the specifications for the program?

7.     Will it be web-based? Will it be bandwidth intensive?

8.     Are there updates and upgrades available?

9.     Do we have the infrastructure to support the program so that it will run efficiently?

10.  Have I contacted Technology Department (Lee Jordan)

11.   Where is the program installed? (work station, server or web-based)?

12.    If we purchase this program; what program(s) can we remove?

13.   Will training be provided by the company or the district?

14.     How much is the initial cost of the program?

15.     Are there maintenance and support costs required?

16.      Who will pay for this software?

British Boy Allen Talks About Technology

Below is a Go Animate video I made for you by simply typing in text.  Great idea for students and teachers to create engaging presentations.  This one talks a bit about Edmodo.  Make teaching fun for your students...they deserve it.


GoAnimate.com: Edmodo for BG Schools by AllenMartin

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Ranting Like Nancy Grace

Recently, I worked with a student (who was NOT in BGISD), who was working on a project for a social studies class in 9th grade.  The 9th grader was to create a poster board about a country.  The student cut out pictures from the internet, drew a flag, and used rubber cement to paste the pictures and letters on the poster board.  Here is my rant:

1. It took an enormous amount of time to cut the pictures, letters and then glue the paper on the poster board.
2. Rubber cement was all over the student and his work area
3. The student did not have any real interest in the project and just wanted to get it over with.
4. I could not recognize any real 21st Century Skills utilized in the project
5. I hope this student does not get a job cutting out paper and gluing it on a poster board.
6. It appeared there was little opportunity for any creativity.
7. This student had a macbook, ipad, ipod touch, dell pc, toshiba laptop, hd video camera, and a plethora of web 2.0 sites at his disposal, but used scissors, markers and rubber cement.
8. I have not noticed any doctor, lawyer, judge, plant manager, accountant, banker, nurse, fireman, policeman, radiologist, and so on who has recently cut out paper and glued things together.  My bad...doctors are using "glue" to seal cuts and such...

So, that is my Nancy Grace rant.  Here is the thing:

• The National Education Technology Standards for Students can be found at this site.
• Communication and Collaboration
• Creativity and Innovation
• Research and Information
• Critical Thinking
• Digital Citizenship
• Technology Operations
• We are preparing students to be successful in the workforce; not only to "live" for the test.
• We have at our fingertips almost anything we can dream.  "Star Trek" concepts are here.
• At the very least give students options when creating projects.
• Project-Based Learning should have an acceptable window to complete the task and there should be some freedom in how the project is designed.

I am sure this will create some disagreement...That is ok.  My job is to share ideas and get teachers and students to take chances with using technology.  The World is changing; we have to adapt and be leaders in how technology can help engage students.

Please make some comments.  Would love to hear your thoughts.  

Snipping Tool

The Snipping tool is a feature inside of windows 7.  It allows you to capture entire screen or capture portions of your screen.  You can use this tool to save images, copy images and make annotations on a captured image. 


 Check out my video.